Heart attack advice
Discussion
Got this today - seemed useful so here you go:
HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE. ~ SELF HELP!
A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people, you can bet that at least one life will be saved.
Let's say it's 6.15 P.M.and you're driving home (alone, of course), after a hard day on the job. You're really tired, upset, and frustrated.
Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw. You are only about five miles from the hospital nearest your home. Unfortunately you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far. You might have been trained in advanced first aid, but the guy that taught the course probably did not tell you how
to perform it on yourself.
Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without help, the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint,
has only about 10 seconds left before becoming unconscious.
These victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously.
A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest.
A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again. Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the
heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.
HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE. ~ SELF HELP!
A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people, you can bet that at least one life will be saved.
Let's say it's 6.15 P.M.and you're driving home (alone, of course), after a hard day on the job. You're really tired, upset, and frustrated.
Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to radiate out into your arm and up into your jaw. You are only about five miles from the hospital nearest your home. Unfortunately you don't know if you'll be able to make it that far. You might have been trained in advanced first aid, but the guy that taught the course probably did not tell you how
to perform it on yourself.
Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without help, the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint,
has only about 10 seconds left before becoming unconscious.
These victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously.
A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest.
A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again. Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the
heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.
I hate to be the first one to reply to this but while it sounds good advice, I think the likelyhood that it would work is negligible.
Apart from the fact that you've got a crushing pain searing across your chest, arm and jaw, do you really think that you could continue to drive yourself 5 miles to the nearest emergency department while coughing every 2 seconds? You're more likely to hyperventilate and pass out.
The force required to pump the heart during chest compressions is not going to be reproduced by coughing no matter how hard you do it.
Apart from the fact that you've got a crushing pain searing across your chest, arm and jaw, do you really think that you could continue to drive yourself 5 miles to the nearest emergency department while coughing every 2 seconds? You're more likely to hyperventilate and pass out.
The force required to pump the heart during chest compressions is not going to be reproduced by coughing no matter how hard you do it.
Jinx said:
www.snopes.com/toxins/coughcpr.htm
It was posted in good faith. I didn't have time to check the internet first.
Stil, if it's cough or die, I'll take cough.
Let me tell you that if you do have a heart attack, there is no way that you could drive a car. I had my first one last November (age 41) and I could just about walk, let alone drive.
The most that I could do was use the phone, and that was not easy ( I was haome alone at the time).
Not the best thing that has happend to me, but the drugs
now keep it under control. 
Doug,
The most that I could do was use the phone, and that was not easy ( I was haome alone at the time).
Not the best thing that has happend to me, but the drugs
now keep it under control. Doug,
Gulliver said:
So by the way, what should one do in this case ? Alone, in the car, having a heart attack
Probably repeatedly bump into the car in front causing your chest to impact the steering wheel with enough force to replace compressions.
If the car in front actually stops, then the driver is probably going to carry out the same compressions - albeit on your face rather than chest!
Iria said:My Dad has similar pills IIRC - they work by dilating the blood vessels... the active ingredient, I believe, is very similar to poppers!
Grandad always carries a handy little pill called "cafinitrina" (in Spanish) that he puts under his tongue when he feels that a heart attack is starting to build up. Either that or he is lying and it is actually a dose of extasis that keeps him going happily
chim_knee said:
Grandad always carries a handy little pill called "cafinitrina" (in Spanish) that he puts under his tongue when he feels that a heart attack is starting to build up. Either that or he is lying and it is actually a dose of extasis that keeps him going happily
My Dad has similar pills IIRC - they work by dilating the blood vessels... the active ingredient, I believe, is very similar to poppers!
is it not nitro glycerine?
my father used to have a red bottle which would be sprayed under the tongue twice in times of distress.
if you did it too much apparently it gave a headache second only to being smashed repeatedly over the head with a large mallet
also on a side note, I remember hearing that miners who used gelignite/whatever to blow things up used to (a century ago?) know that if you had chest pain you just grabbed hold of a stick of gelignite for a while to relieve it
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